REVIEW: Saille – Gnosis (Album)

Saille (pronounced sahl-yeh, according to the neat little info PDF I was given) caught me off guard. Black metal isn’t a pool I usually swim in but Gnosis caught my eye (or ear, whatevs).

I listened to Gnosis for a solid 5 days, enjoying it more every time. I was concerned that it would feel too cheap, as black metal so often does to me. But these guys ain’t cheap. I decided to delve deeper and see what they had on ye ol’ YouTube. First thing I clicked on was a studio video of Pandaemonium Gathers and just seeing how much these men love playing their music made me love listening to it all the more. This was followed by a lyric video of Benei ha’Elohim and I have to say I was impressed by the lyrical quality (“Should we consider you fallen?” actually gave me goosebumps)

To go back to a point I previously mentioned, I usually get a sleazy feeling when listening to black metal. The operatic melodies more often than not just make me cringe. Gnosis has somehow kicked that barrier of mine and has absolutely perfected the balance between dark and dirty riffs with epic melodic epicness. It felt so good to hear the contrast actually work.

Gnosis is Saille’s fourth studio album and they just keep getting better. I briefly listened to the other three (I’ll be honest, I’d not heard of them before) and they weren’t by any means bad but you can see how much they’ve matured and grown as a band, and even as people. Saille are a serious band and Gnosis is serious business, it took a lot of talent to write and is a force to be reckoned with.

Perhaps Saille have opened a new door to the realm of black metal for me, or perhaps Saille are a black metal band I really enjoy. I’ll continue to spam Gnosis until they release something new. In the mean time I hope to catch a live show sometime.